Luke Littler has poured doubt on him equalling Phil Taylor's world championship record after insisting he plans to retire before his fifties. The darts sensation is one of the biggest names in the sport after becoming the youngest player to win the World Darts Championship at just 17 at the start of this year. Many fans and pundits have tipped him to overtake Taylor, retired aged 57 after finishing with a record of 16 world championships during his incredible career.
But Littler says he has no plans to be playing darts at that age and admitted he may never draw level with Taylor. He even claimed he could "wake up and retire tomorrow". Speaking on the Huw Ware's new Tops and Tales podcast, he said: "Michael (van Gerwen) said this in a different interview – once the fire goes out your belly, there’s just no point in playing. So if I say I’m going to continue playing darts for 30 years, well I could wake up tomorrow morning, the fire’s gone out of my belly, and I wanna retire.”.
"I probably won’t be playing at 50. It’s just the way the sport’s going. It’s just growing, growing and growing. But yeah, obviously the one thing I do want to do, and I’ve said it numerous times, is win one of every major at least once. "Get them on the bucket list. Obviously, I’ve won a Pro Tour, a Euro Tour, the Premier League. I’ve won the biggest one, the World Championship. I’ve won the World Series and the Grand Slam. So there’s not much left.".
Littler reached the summit of the sport by beating Michael van Gerwen 7-3 in the world championship final before losing to the Dutchman in the Premier League Darts opener this month. Now 18, Littler has taken huge criticism after being scolded by his rival for being late to a press conference for their clash in Belfast - as the teenager was told "he needs to learn". Littler later hit back at fans who mocked him for losing in the third round of the Players Championship One as Joe Cullen secured a 6-3 win.
